DCS is a research practice, that challenges the role of digital processes within architecture, particularly the frequent disconnect between computational design strategies and material practice. The ubiquity of digital modeling tools—and over the last decade, fabrication tools—has rendered material logics largely an afterthought. The work of the studio attempts to synthesize computation, fabrication, and material practice into a mutually supportive framework in which drivers and constraints between the various facets of a project can inform the design process. The capacity to move fluidly between design, analysis, simulation, machine programming, and finally fabrication is at the core of the research practice.

David Costanza is the director and lead designer of DCS as well as the Technology Fellow at Rice University School of Architecture. Through practice and teaching, his research addresses the emerging digital and technical advancements reshaping the discipline. The work aims to establish a dialogue between representation, computational design tools, digital manufacturing, and the innovative use of building materials. David Costanza is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received a Masters of Architecture with a concentration in Computation (MArch) and a Master’s of Science in Architecture Building Technology (SMArchS BT).